‘If it wasn’t for thefact that I have had to pay for the costs of resurrecting my cousinand we are now short of men, I’d have you flogged to death. You arehereby demoted to junior priest. You will pay half of your salaryand any loot gained for the next two years to me to cover the costof resurrecting my cousin, and you will have one testicle burntoff. Any further displays of cowardice and you will lose the otherone and your life as well.
‘Sergeant take thejunior priest and deliver the punishment.’
‘Yes, YourHoliness.’
‘You were rather harshon your young priest Your Holiness,’ said a cloaked wizard nearby.‘I believe that it was his first command of troops.’
‘Had he died I wouldhave honoured him and resurrected him, and he would have had thetrust of the troops. If he isn’t punished, how can the troops trusthim in the future?’
‘You are right, YourHoliness. Now about this Logicon, I would like the honour ofkilling him. I have developed a great dislike for him and hisflashy bitch cousin.’
‘An Archon will be heretomorrow to begin the search for him,’ said Kelnor. ‘I will add thefurther charges to the warrant that he unlawfully attacked andkilled seven servants of the Council of Unity. That is an immediatedeath sentence. The Archon will kill him on sight. However, you arehere and his trail is warm. I have instructed the Archon to firstgo to the town of Twin Towers and seek him there. That means youare at least a day ahead of him. If you can catch him first thenthe reward will go to you, Senior Wizard Curbut. But how will youexplain your absence to the High Wizard?’
‘I have a few daysleave due and my wife who lives near Templegate will swear I waswith her,’ said Curbut.
‘Excellent,’ saidKelnor. ‘You have done a very good job for me so far. I lookforward to further developments. You will have my support on theCouncil for a higher position if everything goes as planned.’
‘Thank you, YourHoliness. I think I shall go hunting.’ And he teleported back toTwin Towers to do a bit of snooping and request some leave.
Senior Wizard Curbuthad been born in a poor rural community on a world bordering theYith Empire. He demonstrated magic talent from a young age and wasselected by the local lord to undergo training. During hisapprenticeship the Yith killed his whole family in a raid. Thisembittered him against the Yith and he pledged to kill as many ashe could. After several years of death and destruction he realisedthat he needed the resources of a bigger organization. He offeredhis services to the Unity of Wisdom just when the Druid’s Councilwere looking for a second-in-command to Featherdown.
High Priest Kelnorrealized immediately that he was an ideal person to place in Mudrunas a spy. Kelnor offered him a way to really damage the Yith cause.Curbut took the job. Featherdown suspected that he was spying forthe Druid Council and kept him at a distance, but neither he northe Druid’s Council suspected he was also working for the Unity ofWisdom.
Curbut had been sent amessage to meet with Kelnor, and he arrived at the same moment thatPriest Percival had returned to tell them about the loss of theeight men. He immediately guessed that a druid was involved withthe Logicon, as it was unlikely that the Logicon could call andcontrol the cats, but who? He knew Quab was still at twin Towers,as he had seen him just a few minutes ago.
He suspected that itwas Featherdown who had arranged for the Logicon to disappear,before he could be arrested and sent to the Druid Council forinterrogation. He knew Zephira was still at Twin Towers. So heconcluded that Featherdown must have a druid friend who wasprepared to look after the Logicon for a while. The druid had foundout about the massacre at the temple and decided to do somethingabout it. The Logicon had tagged along for a bit of fun. However,it had been the Logicon wizard magic that had made the differencein the fight with Kelnor’s men, so therefore, he was guilty of themurder of Kelnor’s men. That justified the Logicon’s death.
The real question was,had they moved camp or were they still located somewhere close by?He hoped that there would be some clues in Twin Towers.
**
Aquitain and Mirandaboth slept well after an amazing meal of salt fish done with redbeetle, which Miranda had been saving for a momentous occasion. Themain course was followed by biscuits soaked in wine and a strangemushroom from her leg bag that had wondrous effects on the body andmind of even a Logicon.
After the meal Aquitainhad fashioned her a golden gem-studded gown made of chaos matter toproperly attire her for the entertainment. Miranda had recitedheraldic poems of heroes of old that her mother had taught her, andheld him in awe with the beauty of her voice and the magic of thedruid songs she sang. It was quite obvious that she was much morethan a wild druid woman roaming the jungle. She came from a familyof wealth and power and it showed in her deportment, grace andknowledge. Yet when she finished the last haunting melody and thechaos matter was once more a ball of clay, she resumed her part asa humble pious servant of the Lady. Miranda was two women, one theworld saw, and a secret one she had revealed a glimpse of toAquitain.
For his part in theentertainment, he mindlinked with her and retrieved memories ofpictures of his home and other places that he had visited. Picturesthat seemed so real that she could smell the air and reach out andtouch the substance of them. She saw him as he remembered himself.She saw him laugh and smile, walk and talk. She met his mother, hisgrandparents, Melanie and her parents. They were as real as if theystood in front of her. She was again in awe of the power of hismind.
Each went to bed thatnight and spent hours thinking of the other before
